


This is the New Year

by CoolestLemon



Series: At My Most Beautiful- A Stenbrough/Reddie Series [3]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bill and Stan play baseball, Bisexual Bill Denbrough, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Stanley Uris, Getting Back Together, M/M, Marriage Proposal, New Year's Eve, Party, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 00:36:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21347383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoolestLemon/pseuds/CoolestLemon
Summary: Richie and Eddie throw a New Year's Eve party and we follow them and Bill and Stanley as they progress through the night. Big ups and downs.Basically some briefly sad moments and lots of fluff.Technically, will make sense as a stand-alone but will make much more sense if you read the first two parts first.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough & Stanley Uris, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: At My Most Beautiful- A Stenbrough/Reddie Series [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1518251
Comments: 7
Kudos: 94





	This is the New Year

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this has taken me weeks to write and my actual soul has gone into it so please enjoy, leave any comments of things you enjoyed or hated or whatever and maybe some kudos?

16:05pm

“Are you sure Stanley said he was coming?” Bill said, taking a bottle of vodka off the supermarket shelf and putting it into the trolley.

Richie and Eddie gave each other a look behind his back. They understood that Bill was nervous to see Stanley, even though they’d seen each other many times since their break started two months ago but this was the fifth time that he’d asked them the same question since they’d announced the party.

“Yeah, he’s coming.” Richie said, as amicably as he could considering how much he wanted to snap at Bill. At least since they’d told him that Stan was dating, Bill had started acting like himself again, wearing normal clothes and going out for drinks with his other friends. They’d started game night up again as their group except it was Richie and Stan against Bill and Eddie now, much less competitive and a lot more formal than when it had started but still a nice time.

“Don’t freak out about it, Bill.” Eddie said, resting a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder. “He hasn’t said that he’s bringing anyone.”

Bill nodded, feeling the familiar panic rising, the one he gets when he thinks about Stanley, _his_ Stanley dating other people. It’s been over a month since Richie and Eddie told him that they’d seen Stan with Chris. They were probably having sex by now and that thought, the image of someone other than him getting to touch Stanley, made Bill want to rip out his own eyeballs. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen; even though it was stupid, Bill always thought that they’d become one of those annoying old couples who tell everyone that they’d only ever had sex with each other. Bill knew that while there was still a tiny chance that Stan could come back to him, there was no way he was going to sleep with anyone else yet clearly, Stan didn’t have that issue. And just thinking that made him feel bad, _he_ was the one who’d fucked up and not Stanley so Stan could do whatever he wanted.

“Can we buy tequila, please, please, please?” Richie said, holding out a bottle and looking at Eddie with wide, pleading eyes. Eddie narrowed his own eyes back.

“Tequila makes you messy, I’m not sure I can deal with messy Richie tonight as well as making sure our apartment doesn’t die.”

Richie pouted. “I seem to remember you ordering tequila shots on our first date.”

Eddie rolled his eyes but put the bottle in the trolley, knowing that Richie would just ask Bev to bring some if he didn’t buy it. And they were working on Eddie’s control issues, trying to stop himself from censoring Richie whenever he did something that Eddie didn’t immediately like.

19:20pm

Stanley stared at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt with a darker blue sweater over the top with matching pants and his best shoes. Stan liked his outfit, it was one he always would have worn to special events and fit him even better now that he’d started working out properly. The only problem was his hair.

Stan’s hair has always been curly. In the baby photos that were strewn around the Uris household, Stanley had little curls; in the yearbooks that were boxed up under his bed, Stanley had bouncing curls that covered his eyes; in the selfies with Bill that filled his phone, Stanley had curly hair. In the mirror, on New Year’s Eve before Richie and Eddie’s party, Stanley had hair that was slightly too short to curl. He didn’t look like himself and Stan hated it.

_It had been the week after Bill had left their apartment with his duffle bag and a sad smile. Stanley was coping by telling himself that he could call Bill at any moment and he’d be right back; this whole break had been his own idea after all. Then suddenly, Stanley wasn’t coping at all. _

_The feeling started when he was walking back after a late class. The sky was already dark and Stan could feel the darkness outside start to spread inside his head. He knew this feeling, it was something he’d been used to since he was sixteen but it still shocked him every time, how quickly everything could go grey. He felt the chill in his bones begin to creep in, the one that had him grabbing his huge winter coat out of the closet the second that he was inside. Then the drifting happened- he’d laid down on the bed, only to find himself on the floor in the kitchen area an hour later, not remembering how he’d got there. This was when he usually rang Bill and he’d drop whatever he was doing and come home, pulling Stanley onto the bed and snuggling him there, twisting his fingers through his curls to calm him down and keeping him there until the colour came back and he could trust himself to move without doing something stupid. _

_Now, he couldn’t ring Bill because that would defeat the whole point of the break. He had to learn to survive these blips on his own. Stanley pushed his hand into his own hair and tried to copy Bill’s technique, gripping onto the base of a curl in the way that usually grounded him. Except, of course it didn’t. That was Bill’s thing and his own hands were weak and flimsy and just felt wrong. It was almost like he could feel the ghost of Bill’s hands in his hair and that somehow made him feel worse. _

_That was how he found himself another hour later, stood in front of his bathroom mirror, holding a pair of scissors, his hacked off curls littering the floor. He stared at himself in the mirror, the way his hair stuck up in different lengths, all messy and wrong and completely unlike the usual, neat Stanley. He dropped the scissors, curling up on the floor in pain. He was a mess. _

_“What the fuck, Stan?” _

_Stanley woke up again on the bathroom floor, his phone in his hand. He didn’t remember calling Richie but he must have done since here he was, standing over him and looking at the destruction around him. Stanley noticed the discarded curls again and started sobbing. Bill had always loved his hair; he’d never love him now. _

_“Okay, shit, let’s get you out of here.” _

_Richie pulled Stanley up and out of the bathroom, shutting the door and guiding him to the bed. Stan let himself be tucked under the duvet, the heavy blanket offering him the kind of comfort that usually only came from another person. _

_Richie pulled his own phone out of his pocket, dialling Eddie’s number with one hand while the other gripped Stanley’s, scared that he would get up again. Richie had seen Stan’s blips before when they lived together but he’d never had to deal with one alone, always having Bill ready to come and take care of his boyfriend and now, Richie was scared. He knew that he couldn’t offer Stanley the same level of comfort and security and he was worried that nothing was going to make this better. _

_“Eds, can you come over here like right now? And can you bring that stuff you use when you cut your hair?” _

_Eddie got there quickly, still dressed in his pyjamas but holding his bag full of hairdressing equipment. Eddie had been cutting his own hair since he was a kid, not trusting anyone else to not ruin it and he had quite a skill now, even doing Richie’s and sometimes Bill’s. _

_“Fuck.” Eddie said when he saw what he was dealing with. _

_Richie held Stanley down while Eddie cut the rest of his hair. It had to be really short to make it all even and when they were done, Stan looked like a different person. They all agreed to tell people (especially Bill) that Stanley had gotten his hair cut as a choice but every time Stan looked in the mirror, he felt the loss of those curls and the way it felt when Bill touched them. _

Stanley turned away from the mirror, knowing that there was nothing he could do to make himself look better. Tonight, he was going to see Bill and he was going to talk to him like a real adult. Stan didn’t want to start the next year off being on bad terms with Bill, he wanted to start it off as his boyfriend but if Bill didn’t feel the same then they could at least go back to being friends.

21:37pm

Bill was sat on the sofa, a bottle of beer in his hand. The party was getting busy now and he recognised a few people around the room but he couldn’t help his head turning every time that the door opened. The Facebook event had stated that the party started at 9pm and Stanley was never late for anything so why wasn’t he here. Bill couldn’t help the bad thoughts, the ones that told him that Stan was late because he was too busy having sex to notice the time, or that he’d decided not to come at the last minute.

Finally, the door opened and Stanley’s familiar shoes walked into the room. Bill watched, taking in his usual party outfit and the way it fit differently now and of course the hair before noticing that Stan was not alone. Walking in beside him like he had every right was Chris. Bill wanted to cross the room and punch that guy so hard that he lost his fucking teeth.

Stanley noticed him staring and gave him a little smile. It felt like a kick to the gut and Bill looked away, his eyes finding Richie and Eddie instead, the two of them laughing and holding hands. Bill couldn’t watch that either, the two of them being so happy and in love when his heart was breaking in his chest. He got up and walked into their bedroom, closing the door and lying on the bed. He could just wait there until everyone left. He should have just stayed home and celebrated the New Year with Georgie and his parents.

22:01pm

Richie was drunk. He hadn’t meant to get drunk, never really does the way he knows other people do, it just sort of happens. He was never a big drinker and then when he’d met Eddie, he’d mellowed out even more, preferring to sip at a bottle of beer when they went out so that Eddie could drink as much as he wanted and they’d both be safe. Plus, mixing alcohol and ADHD never seemed to go well and every time he got drunk, he just ended up acting super annoying so he tried to stop himself but tonight he’d drank tequila shots and by the time the party was properly getting started, he was drunk.

“Eddie, baby, come dance with me.” Richie said, making grabby hands at Eddie, who was sat on their sofa, watching Richie on the make-shift dancefloor that was the centre of their living room. There were other people dancing too, some of Richie’s drama friends and a couple of people from the baseball team but no-one was dancing like Richie was dancing. Richie was dancing in such an obnoxious way, stumbling into everyone else, making it very clear that he was drunk.

Eddie laughed, shaking his head and turning back to talk to Mike, who was sat next to him.

“Noooooo, Eds, come dance with me.” Richie whined, moving over to where Eddie was and pulling him up to his feet.

Eddie laughed again, letting himself be guided to the middle of the room by Richie. He didn’t mind really, he loved seeing Richie so happy and loosening up. They stumbled around together, Eddie trying to move their bodies in some semblance of a rhythm while Richie just thrashed around. The song changed from something electronic to something slower- one of the 80s power ballads that Richie loved and had hijacked the playlist with. As Bonnie Tyler crooned about love, Richie pulled Eddie into a slow-dance position, threading his long fingers into his hair.

“I love you so much.” Richie said, resting his cheek on Eddie’s head.

Eddie laughed again. “You’re a soppy bastard.”

Richie nodded, his chin bumping against Eddie’s head in a way that would have hurt if Eddie didn’t love him enough not to care.

“I am but it’s okay because you love me back.”

Eddie pulled himself closer to Richie so that he own face was pushed against his boyfriend’s chest, not caring about how damp with sweat his shirt was, feeling the secure, familiar beat of his heart. Eddie didn’t care that they were in a room filled with almost everyone that they knew or that they were probably looking at them, all he cared about was the way he felt when he was in Richie’s arms- it was everything.

“I do.” Eddie said with a grin that nobody could even see because his face was squished into Richie’s chest.

Richie spoke again, his voice the quietest that it had probably ever been, barely above a whisper but Eddie still heard it.

“Marry me then.”

Eddie immediately ripped himself out of Richie’s arms, leaving his boyfriend to nearly tumble from the lack of stability.

“What did you just say?” Eddie hissed, narrowing his eyes at Richie’s face.

Richie took a step back, unsure whether he should repeat his statement. Eddie didn’t look happy, in fact, he looked a little bit mad and Richie didn’t want to ruin their night by saying something stupid. But also, Richie looked at Eddie and saw his entire future, he didn’t want anyone else and had definitely never imagined he could feel like this about another person. He would be fine if Eddie said that he wanted to wait until they were older and had jobs and financial security but Richie knew that he would not be able to cope if Eddie told him that he didn’t want to marry him at all.

“I-uh- said you should marry me.” Richie said quickly, pushing the words out despite the panic that was rising inside.

Eddie waved a hand in between them dismissively. “You’re drunk.”

Richie shook his head, his hair bouncing wildly in the way that always made Eddie think of a dog. “I’m being serious, Eds, I look at you and I know that you’re it for me. I want you to be with me like all the time and I don’t think I could ever let you go.” Richie said, his hand touching Eddie’s, brushing his soft skin slightly in a caring gesture.

“You’re drunk.” Eddie repeated, his eyes more wide than narrowed now. He couldn’t believe this was happening; Richie couldn’t really be trying to propose to him right now.

Richie held up a finger as if to pause the conversation and darted into their bedroom, nearly tripping over every person he passed. Eddie wondered if he could just hide somewhere while he was gone, knowing that this conversation was never going to end well with Richie being as drunk as he was. He wished that he could have brought this up another time and they could have discussed the consequences and the reality of their relationship without all their friends watching them.

Richie flew back into the room in as much chaos as he’d left, flying into Stanley and his fucking shadow, Chris, before finally arriving back in front of Eddie. Eddie could see what was in his hand but he was frozen, no words could come out of his mouth so he just watched with steadily increasing horror as the love of his life got down on one knee, opened a ring box and said

“Eddie Kaspbrak, will you marry me?”

Time seemed to slow down, every second that Eddie didn’t answer getting more and more painful.

Eventually, Eddie regained the ability to speak.

“Rich, will you please get up?” He said in a tiny voice, one that he hoped would help soothe the sting of his rejection.

“W-what?” Richie said, his mind finally catching up to the fact that Eddie was not going to say yes, that this whole situation had gone south very quickly.

Eddie grabbed the bottom of Richie’s arms and pulled until he was once again standing, although he didn’t look very secure on his feet, like the tiniest puff of wind would knock him down again.

“You don’t want to marry me?” Richie asked, his eyes wide and hurt. He felt the hurt everywhere like someone had taken a knife and stabbed it into his most sensitive parts.

Eddie looked at him sadly and he wasn’t sure whether it was true sadness or pity and he wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Can we talk about this privately?” Eddie said, looking around at their friends who were all watching them with odd expressions.

Richie shook his head again, feeling tears threatening to fall. He didn’t want to go into their bedroom and talk about how Eddie clearly didn’t see them being a long-term thing. He wanted to slip the ring in the box on to Eddie’s finger, the one he’d picked out because the little blue stones reminded him of his eyes and talk about the rest of their lives together. That clearly wasn’t an option so instead, he wanted to get even more drunk and dance his pain away.

“Richie, please?”

Richie just shook his head again, looking at Eddie in a way he had never looked at Eddie. It made Eddie want to throw up but instead, he just turned and walked away. He couldn’t stand there while Richie looked at him like that, like _he_ was the one who decided to change the rules on their relationship in the middle of a party.

Richie watched Eddie walk away, feeling worse and worse with every step he took. He watched the front door close behind his boyfriend before turning to Bev who was stood by speakers.

“Someone better put some Lizzo on right fucking now.” Richie said, brushing the tears off his cheeks and trying to pretend like his entire world hadn’t just imploded.

22:29pm

Stanley walked into Eddie and Richie’s bedroom, pushing the door closed and leaning on it. Chris had left, choosing to go and spend the actual turn of the New Year with the guy he was seeing since Stan had decided that he was going to try and make up with Bill and he’d just witnessed the absolute car crash that was Richie trying to propose to Eddie. Stan just couldn’t watch Richie cry and dance away his feelings anymore, it was pretty heart-breaking.

Stan opened his eyes and nearly gasped. Sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at him with a curious expression was none other than Bill Denbrough, the person he wanted to see most in the world.

“I didn’t know you were in here.” Stanley said, it was an apology in a way, he didn’t want it to seem like he’d been stalking Bill or anything.

“I’m hiding.” Bill said, his eyes never leaving Stanley’s face.

“Can I hide here too?” Stan said, keeping his gaze as steady and level as Bill’s was. This felt like _something_.

Bill laughed, it was quiet and gentle and Stan’s heart skipped a beat. “I was hiding from you. And that asshole.”

Stanley wrinkled his nose in confusion. “Chris? I didn’t bring him as a plus one or anything like that, he’s just my friend.”

“Oh.” Bill said. It was weird being so close to Stan but not being able to touch him. This was the closest they’d been since that morning and the first time in months that Bill had been able to see how soft Stanley’s face was; he wanted to run his fingers over his soft skin, over his lips. He’d forgotten how much he missed Stan until that moment.

_“You could have had a bad bitch FULL committal.”_ Richie sang, his voice carrying through the door. “You hear that, Eds, I want to marry you.”

Stanley sighed.

“I’m hiding from that.” He said, nodding his head towards the door. “Someone thought it would be a good idea to give Richie tequila.”

Bill laughed again and the sound made Stan want to cry. He’d thought that he’d never get to see Bill laugh again, the way his nose crinkled and his eyes lit up and yet he’d got to witness it twice just in this conversation.

“Oh yeah, he basically begged Eddie to let him drink it.”

Stanley shook his head with a giggle. “I think he might be regretting that one now, you know since Richie just proposed to him in front of like half his classmates.”

Bill’s jaw dropped open. He lived with Richie and Eddie and he knew they were perfect for each other but Eddie wasn’t one for surprises, this can’t have gone well.

“No fucking way, please tell me that Eddie didn’t castrate him then and there with the corkscrew?” Bill said in tone that sounded close to awe.

Stan shrugged, perching on the opposite side of the bed to Bill, a large distance of space between them. “No, actually, he froze completely, Richie got super mad and then Eddie left. So, in the end it was super depressing.”

“Oh. That is depressing.” Bill said glumly.

The two boys looked at each other. There was so much left unsaid between them, so much history and so much love that it was almost hard to bear. The atmosphere was awkward in a way that it had never been for Stanley and Bill, they’d always been easy with each other since the day they’d met as children. Stan wasn’t sure whether he should just leave but there was something so magnetic about Bill that just made him want to stay beside him always. _Fuck_, he’d missed him so much.

“Bet you fifty bucks that they’re engaged by midnight.” Bill said, raising an eyebrow at Stanley.

Stan felt a warm rush in his body, this felt right, like the real Bill and Stanley who made stupid bets and laughed about their outcomes. It was almost as if in the midst of all the drama that had happened, they’d forgotten that they were best friends as well as boyfriends, a friendship that spanned pretty much the entirety of their lives

“Bet you a hundred that they’re _married_ by Eddie’s birthday.” Stanley countered, his hand stretched across the bed. Bill grabbed it quickly, shaking it with a gentle touch that had both of them reeling. It was almost like an electric shock, a feeling neither of them have had in two months and one that they both wanted to replicate.

“You’re on. There is no way that Eddie will agree to that, he needs at least a year.” Bill laughed, Stanley’s hand still in his, long fingers stroking gently over soft skin, the way he knew that Stan liked.

“Maybe but you know how pushy Richie can be, I think he’d be able to persuade Eddie to do anything eventually.” Stan said, relishing in the way it felt to hold Bill’s hand again, wondering if he ever had to let go, or if he could just stay like this forever.

“True, can you believe that he convinced Eddie to get matching tattoos? I was so shook.” Bill said, shaking his head gently.

Stanley could already feel a blush building across his face. Quickly, he dragged his hand out of Bill’s and back to his side, almost as if Bill’s eyes could see through both his shirt and jumper to the marked skin below.

It had been one of Stan’s good days, almost a month earlier. He’d woken up and his arms hadn’t immediately reached out in the bed for Bill and for the first time it hadn’t made him inordinately sad when he remembered that he wasn’t there. He’d gone to the gym, loving the way his muscles burned after a good work-out in a way that he’d never really enjoyed before. Then the phone call from Richie had come, asking him to go with him and Eddie while they got matching tattoos. It had been a split second decision and the artist was a friend of Richie’s so didn’t mind giving him a last minute appointment and there he was, six hours later with a large feather decorating his right forearm. Stanley _loved_ it, it made him so happy to see something that brought him joy when he was used to seeing the old scars that litter that area and being filled with sadness. He’d made his friends promise not to tell Bill because he was kind of scared of his reaction, having been largely against body art in numerous conversations that Stan could remember.

“Oh, Stanley.” Bill said quietly, a sad tone in his voice. He didn’t understand what Stan’s reaction was about, instead jumping to a different conclusion as to why Bill couldn’t hold his hand. Bill remembered the days when he was first intimately getting to know Stanley’s body and how every time that he got him out of his shirt or jumper, he would first check to see if there were any new marks. He’d always worried about Stanley but knowing that his best friend was hurting and he couldn’t do anything about it had made Bill vow to do whatever he could to make him happy and he hated that he hadn’t been able to do that recently.

Stanley obliviously continued the conversation. “I would have been shook if they didn’t drag me with them.”

Bill watched him carefully, his eyes darting between Stanley’s own and his arm that now hung by his side. “You actually went to a tattoo studio?” Bill sounded shocked and Stanley fought the urge to laugh, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d managed to shock Bill.

“Yep.” Stan said, making sure to keep his eyes away from Bill’s.

Bill gasped exaggeratedly. “Stanley Uris, did you get a tattoo?”

Stanley didn’t reply, instead choosing to pull his jumper over his head, throwing it beside him on the bed. He felt Bill’s eyes on him, watching him closely as he moved. Stan then unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt, before folding back the sleeve up to his elbow, presenting the arm to Bill.

Bill lifted a finger and dragged it along the fine, dark lines. Stanley shivered at the touch, wishing that he could feel that same touch on different parts of his body.

“Don’t.” Stan said.

Bill’s finger stopped and he looked at Stanley in confusion. “What?”

Stanley sighed sadly, taking his arm back. “Don’t tell me that you hate it, I’m sorry but it was something that I’ve always been thinking about.”

Bill frowned. “Why would you think I’d hate it?”

“I know how you feel about tattoos, that you think they’re ugly and disfiguring.”

Bill shook his head at Stanley’s words, reaching out to pull his arm back and taking another look at the ink there. He really liked it, the way that the simple lines covered the scars that Bill had spent so many hours touching, wishing that he could make them go away.

“I don’t think that.”

“You don’t have to lie, Bill.” Stan tried to pull his arm back but Bill held firm, going back to trace the lines on Stanley’s skin. “You said it to Georgie, remember? Last summer?”

Bill sighed deeply. “Georgie was 13 and impressionable! He kept going on and on about how Peter Gordon looked _so cool_ now that he had loads of tattoos and I knew that if I told him that I didn’t like them then he wouldn’t go and do something stupid.”

Stanley just stared at him.

“I’m so sorry, Stan, I didn’t know that this was something you wanted. Even if I didn’t like them, I would never stop you from doing something that you wanted.” Bill said, looking down, away from Stanley’s eyes for the first time since he entered the room.

They were exactly the words that Stanley needed to hear. He’d known deep down that Bill wasn’t the controlling type but he’d always had the secret worry that his boyfriend would disapprove.

Bill let go of Stanley’s arm then and it hung awkwardly in between them before Stan pulled it back, rolling his sleeve back down. Neither of them spoke, both watching as Stanley covered himself back up. Bill was biting his lip as if he wanted to say something but was holding himself back.

Eventually, he spoke what was on his mind.

“Stanley, did you come here to break-up with me?” He said, his voice a little colder than usual, holding back all the emotion he was feeling.

Stan was shocked, he kind of thought that he and Bill were on the same page here, that this was some sort of reconciliation.

“No.” Stanley said with a shake of his head. “Do you want me to break-up with you?”

Bill moved quickly, crossing the space between them in seconds until he was sat right in front of Stan. He took both his hands in his own, going back to the stroking that he was doing earlier. It felt right, holding Stan’s hands, something he’d been doing frequently since they were six years old. This was the now-or-never situation and Bill wasn’t about to let this slip away.

“I love you, Stanley, I’ve loved you since we were literally children and I honestly don’t think I’ll ever stop. I’m so sorry about what I did, what I put you through and I’d go back and change it in a second if I could but I can’t and I completely understand if you want to break up with me but just know I’ll never stop loving you.” Bill said, his eyes squeezed tightly closed, scared that if he opens them then he’ll see the rejection on Stan’s face.

Except there was no rejection on his face, Stanley was staring at Bill, his eyes opened wide. He reached across slowly, his hand making contact with the back of Bill’s neck, bringing his face closer to his own.

“_Stanley._” Bill whispered but Stan continued, pressing his lips to Bill’s the way he had wanted to ever since he first saw him sat on the bed. The way he wanted to forever.

23:18pm

Richie had stopped dancing. The initial adrenaline of the situation had worn off and now the only thing he felt was sadness. His mind kept replaying Eddie’s pitiful look as he’d dragged him to his feet, rejecting him in front of all their friends. He should have known it was a risk, asking Eddie something so huge in such a public way but he hadn’t really thought about it; he’d been planning to propose for months and was just waiting for the right moment and it had seemed like the right moment. But maybe no moment would have been the right one, maybe Eddie only ever saw them as a college relationship and he was going to go off to med school and find someone he wanted to truly be with. That thought wounded Richie deeply, he thought that he and Eddie were forever, he was willing to follow him to wherever he wanted to do med school.

Richie had sat down by this point, lying across one of the sofas with his legs in Beverly’s lap.

“Oh, Rich.” She said, patting his ankles. “I’m sure he didn’t mean that he doesn’t want to be with you.”

Richie didn’t reply, just continued staring at the ceiling.

“Come on, you _know_ that Eddie loves you more than like anything else, the kid would die for you. And realistically, anyone who’d ever met Eddie would tell you not to propose to him in front of people.”

“If he loved me then he would have said yes.” Richie said, grumbling almost under his breath.

Bev rolled her eyes, pushing his legs off her. She was starting to get annoyed with her oldest friend’s attitude towards this, he was being so obtuse and he just needed to go find Eddie and _apologise._

“Stop moping, you actual child. You know if you actually had let Eddie tell you what he was feeling then we wouldn’t be here right now. Just go find him like a normal person.”

Richie turned to look at his friend. She had the determined look on her face that she always got when she was annoyed at him and he hated it. Richie and Bev had been friends with each other for practically their entire lives and she knew everything about him, including how oblivious he could be and she always had his best interests at heart, so maybe she was right.

“Do you really think so? I don’t know.” Richie said, looking down. He wasn’t sure he could bear it if he had to face another of Eddie’s rejections right now.

Bev rolled her eyes again. “Oh my god, yes obviously. I bet he’s gone to the roof, he always goes there when he’s annoyed.”

One of the reasons that Eddie and Richie had chosen this particular building was the roof. It wasn’t widely known but if you climbed up the very top, there was a door that opened directly on to the roof. Eddie had loved it immediately, enjoying the way he could almost see the whole city from up there. It always made him feel better, knowing that he was only one of the millions of people who lived there and his problems always seemed so much less important when he thought about it up there.

Now, he was sat, his legs pulled up under his chin as he stared out of the twinkling lights of the city. In the distance some fireworks were going off early. It was cold, too cold for him to be outside without his coat but he didn’t care, he didn’t want to go back in and get it. He was embarrassed, he knew that everyone would be looking at him and whispering if he went back. Eddie couldn’t believe that Richie had done that to him, he knew how Eddie felt about public declarations.

Despite the embarrassment, the thing that was upsetting Eddie the most was the look on Richie’s face when he’d pulled him to his feet. He never wanted to see him look like that again, so dejected and broken. It made Eddie want to change his mind and agree to marry him on the spot. Of course, Eddie wanted to marry Richie, he wanted to spend every single day with him for the rest of his life, he couldn’t cope when they spent even a night apart. That wasn’t why Eddie didn’t reply and it wasn’t really because it was in public.

The truth was, Eddie was worried that Richie didn’t really want to marry him. Eddie was struggling, he was about to graduate and he’d been accepted to med schools around the country but honestly, Eddie didn’t want to go to med school. His mother had said that if he wanted to go to college and not live at home then he had to train to be a doctor so that he was at least making something of himself and Eddie had gone along with it, he’d always enjoyed the security of hospitals after all. But now that his future was looming in front of him, Eddie just did not want to go down that path anymore. He was worried about what Richie would say, they’d always talked about how when Eddie was qualified then Richie would be able to quit whatever job he fell into so that he could pursue his dream of comedy but he couldn’t do that if Eddie didn’t have a good job. Sure, Richie wanted to marry future doctor Eddie but there was no way he wanted to marry the unemployed Eddie.

He heard the footsteps behind him and instinctively pulled himself in tighter. It wasn’t that he was hiding from Richie, it was obvious where he was.

“Hey.” Richie said, sitting down beside Eddie. Eddie leant on his shoulder, something he always did, feeling the familiar warmth of Richie against him.

“I’m sorry.” Eddie said, closing his eyes.

Richie smoothed his hair out of his face and sighed. “You don’t have to be sorry, baby. _I’m_ sorry, I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

Eddie pulled away, turning around so he was facing his boyfriend. “I have to tell you something, Richie, it’s-it’s important.”

Richie nodded slowly but all the colour had drained from his face. He couldn’t imagine what Eddie wanted to say to him but nothing good ever came from these kind of conversations. He tried to maintain calm but the thought of Eddie breaking up with him made him want to cry.

“So, you know how I’m going to med school in the fall?”

Richie nodded again. This where it came, the ‘I think I can find someone better’ that Richie was so terrified of.

“Well, ikindofdecidedthatidon’twanttogoanymore.” Eddie said, almost too quickly for Richie to understand.

“What?”

Eddie breathed out slowly. “I don’t want to be a doctor anymore. I get that wasn’t part of our plan so I understand if you want to take back your proposal and stuff.” Eddie looked down, refusing to look at Richie.

Richie was so confused. He didn’t understand why this was such a big deal, or why he wouldn’t want to marry him just because of what job he was going to do. Richie wanted to marry Eddie because of who he was, not because of stupid things like a career.

“Dude, I didn’t ask you to marry me because you were going to be a doctor. I couldn’t care less about that stuff.” Richie said, still feeling very confused.

Eddie sighed, shaking his head slightly. “You say that now but you’re going to resent me for it eventually.”

Richie took Eddie’s hands into his own and looked deeply into his boyfriend’s eyes. He hated seeing Eddie like when all he ever wanted was to love him, he didn’t care about any of that superficial nonsense- all he wanted was Eddie.

“I love you completely, Eddie Kaspbrak and I would want to marry you even if you decided that you wanted to go live in Australia or if you wanted to abandon all worldly possessions and live in a hut somewhere, okay? I just- my love for you is not conditional on how much money you’re going to earn. I’m not your mother and all I want is for you to be happy.”

Eddie listened to Richie’s words and felt a warmth deep in his soul. He should have known Richie would react like this as for all his stupid jokes and lack of maturity, he always knew exactly what to say to make Eddie feel better. In fact, the one thing he knew he could always count on to make him happy was Richie. Who needed a life plan when you had that level of security?

“Okay.” Eddie said quietly, keeping his gaze on Richie.

“Okay?”

Eddie grinned. “Okay, I’ll marry you.”

23:50pm

Bill and Stan had migrated back to the living room. They were sat on the sofa Bill had been sleeping on-Bill sat on the sofa cushion and Stan on his lap, straddling him so that they could face each other (and kiss, which they were doing quite a lot of now that they could.) A few of their teammates had noticed them and told them how happy they were that they were back together, which made them both grin. Everything was as it should be.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy in my life.” Bill said, his forehead resting against Stan’s and closing his eyes.

“Hmm, what about when Georgie was born?” Stan said, teasing, looking at the content smile on his boyfriend’s face and just feeling at _home._

“Don’t bring Georgie into this.” Bill laughed, the longer parts of his hair tickling Stanley’s nose until he was laughing too. “He’s dating now, you know. That definitely made me feel old.”

Stan pulled back to grin up at Bill. The way that Bill was always so protective over Georgie was one of the first things that Stanley had ever loved about Bill.

“Aw, did you give that poor girl the protective older brother speech and scare her into never hurting him?”

Bill giggled slightly, a sound that didn’t often come from him, only when he was with Stanley. “Actually, he’s dating a guy. Said if I was allowed to date my best friend then he was too, it was kind of cute actually.”

Stanley looked at Bill being all soft and sweet and he felt his heart swell with love. He thought about Georgie being inspired by their relationship, which was just the cutest thing ever. Stan loved Bill’s family, having spent so much time with them since he’d first met Bill that he was practically part of that family too. Since he was Jewish and his family celebrated Hanukkah, he was always invited over to the Denbrough’s for ‘Christmas Day’ or ‘Non-Denominational Winter Feast’ as Sharon Denbrough always called it since neither her nor her husband were actually practising Christians and they didn’t want Stan to feel left out. NDWF was one of his favourite days of the year, just sat around eating good food with his second family and watching sappy Christmas films and opening presents that he’d have to hide from his parents because they always got so mad but it was worth it.

“He missed you at NDWF.” Bill said, looking up at Stanley with a slightly sad smile. “He didn’t speak to me for like a day when I told him what happened, he tried to punch me in the face and honestly now that he’s had that growth spurt, he nearly landed it as well. That’s what I get for hurting _his_ Stanley.”

Stan laughed, imagining how that went down. He was sad though, sad that he missed his favourite day just to mope around his own house in sweatpants while his parents told him how glad they were that he wasn’t running off with _that boy_ anymore. He hated how he spent the whole Winter Break being annoyed by his parents and the way they just could never accept that he was gay and with Bill, despite having had four years to get used to it and unlike every other year, he couldn’t just run over to the Denbrough’s very accepting household. Stan had felt so lonely and he hated himself for not fixing this before then.

“That’s settled then, I’m going to leave you for the better Denbrough.” Stan smiled, pushing all his negative thoughts away because he had Bill back and that was all that mattered.

“You would never.” Bill pushed his head into the crease between Stanley neck and shoulder and started leaving little kisses until as predicted, Stan let himself fall lower so that his head was resting on Bill’s chest, all warm and snuggly, what they should have been doing on all the cold winter nights that they’ve been spending alone.

They stayed like that for a while, joining in the countdown with everyone else and sharing a kiss as the ball dropped on Eddie and Richie’s TV. It was the perfect time to press play again on their relationship, getting to start a whole new year with the one they loved. They drew the kiss out for a while, both of them too happy to want to break away apart from to breathe properly, completely forgetting about all the other people in the room.

It was nearly an hour later when the thought finally occurred to Stanley and he felt something akin to dread rise in the pit of his stomach. _Shit._ He should have led with this.

“You okay?” Bill said, noticing the way Stan had suddenly pulled away and was biting his lip, the way he always did when he was nervous. Bill’s hands automatically went to Stan’s head to calm him down but of course, there were no curls so he tried to make do with what there was. Stanley melted into the touch.

“There’s something I need to tell you.” Stanley said so quietly that Bill almost missed it.

Bill didn’t think there was anything that could be said to pull him and Stan apart right now, besides the obvious like he might feel differently if Stanley had murdered someone but he knew his boyfriend and thought that was highly unlikely so he was more genuinely interested than worried.

“Sure.”

Stan took a deep breath before speaking, a sure sign that he was nervous or uncomfortable so Bill tightened his grip of his hair, knowing that the action always grounded Stanley.

“I got offered a job, starting in July.” Stan started, enjoying the way that Bill’s cool fingers felt against his scalp. He’d missed that so much.

“That’s so great, baby, I’m so proud of you.” Bill grinned, pulling Stanley closer and hugging him around the waist. “I always knew you’d be snapped up quickly.”

“It’s in Atlanta.”

Bill didn’t move so much as a muscle after he heard those words, instead his mind was going into complete overdrive. Atlanta wasn’t like the other side of the country or anything, it was the same coast but it was over 1000 miles from here and even more from their hometown, where Bill always kind of assumed they’d go back to after college. Bill had only ever wanted to write novels, he had no back-up plan and he’d have been happy getting some little house down the road from his parents and Georgie and converting the attic into his own writing den. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t willing to change his dreams for the boy he loved.

“Nick Markakis.” Bill said quietly.

Stan gave him an odd look. “Excuse me?”

“The Braves have Markakis and Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson, they’ve got a real good team.”

Stan just stared at him as if he had no idea what he was talking about.

Bill continued. “The Atlanta Braves, now that is a team I could really get behind.”

“What do you mean?” Stanley said, tilting his head to look at Bill curiously.

“I mean, of course I’ll move to Atlanta with you. All I need is a laptop and a desk, I can write anywhere and I can get a job somewhere to help pay the bills and my parents will come visit and we can go home for NDWF as usual. All I need is you.”

Bill could see their future right in front of him. It would be nice to live somewhere warmer and he could see them in a little apartment, maybe with a tiny balcony where they could share coffee in a morning and play cards at night like old men. They could even get a dog, he knew that was something Stanley had always wanted but his parents hated pets so he’d never had one. Truth be told, Bill didn’t mind what his future was as long as it had Stanley.

“Really?” Stan couldn’t believe it, couldn’t fathom how he’d got so lucky as to meet this boy and got to keep him.

“Yep.” Bill pulled his boyfriend even closer, thinking that he might never actually let go again.

4:06am

Richie and Eddie ended up spending the next few hours out on the roof, holding each other and crying about how they were _actually getting married_ like the absolute saps they were. It got to the point where they just wanted to wait until everyone had left their apartment because they wanted to spend the first few hours as an engaged couple together, rather than with their 100 closest friends.

Eventually, they got too cold and made their way back inside. They quickly noticed that the lights were off and it was completely silent, Bill and Stanley having made sure everyone left at a reasonable time. They noticed their friends curled up on the sofa together asleep, one of Eddie’s big throw blankets pulled over them.

“Fuck yeah.” Richie whispered, grinning widely at the two of them. Eddie grinned back, pulling Richie into their bedroom before he could wake them up.

The next day, Eddie and Richie began planning their wedding, a small affair with just their closest friends and family, while Bill and Stan planned their move to Atlanta and the rest of their lives together.

**Author's Note:**

> I might do a little epilogue for this AU like some years in the future- let me know if that's something you want?
> 
> Title is from This is the New Year by A Great Big World (aka my favourite song ever)  
https://youtu.be/27R_goWiAAU


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